


there's this image of you and i

by gayxiaolong



Category: RWBY
Genre: Established Crosshares, Established Relationship, F/F, Fluff, also vague spice but no smut, idk what "plot" is but they're in love, in which velvet's confidence is growing and coco lets herself be vulnerable, the M is just to be safe, they're in vacuo but other than that this is unbound in time
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-29
Updated: 2020-11-29
Packaged: 2021-03-10 02:02:00
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,169
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27766444
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gayxiaolong/pseuds/gayxiaolong
Summary: She smiles at the evidence of all she does to Coco, how she comes undone. This moment should have a shrine in her memories, the soft afterglow should be encased in gold.***or, Velvet takes pictures of Coco in bed
Relationships: Coco Adel/Velvet Scarlatina
Comments: 15
Kudos: 91





	there's this image of you and i

**Author's Note:**

> title from Fireside by Arctic Monkeys

Coco has never looked more beautiful.

Velvet has thought this before, of course. She thought it the first time they sparred together, when Coco’s perfect presentation was out of place for the first time- hair pushed out of her face and sweat starting to shine on her skin. The thought recurred the first time she took off her sunglasses around Velvet. Alone in the dorms, dark brown eyes staring down at her were a sign of the vulnerability Coco was slowly letting herself show. The third time it came, Coco showed up at her door in tears after the fall. The force of her lips against hers, the silent but understood ‘ _I don’t want to lose you_ ’, the sight of a Coco no one else sees- it was the most beautiful thing Velvet could imagine.

This time, the force of the thought hits Velvet all at once. They lay half-dressed, sheets scattered around their tangled bodies. Coco’s eyes are closed, content, eyelashes casting shadows under her eyes. Velvet is struck, again, by the attraction, the love, the desire- a pang in her chest at all that brought them here. 

Velvet reaches up, running her finger across her girlfriend’s lips where her lipstick has smudged. She smiles at the evidence of all she does to Coco, how she comes undone. This moment should have a shrine in her memories, the soft afterglow should be encased in gold.

“I want to remember this,” Velvet whispers, soft enough to keep them in the moment. 

“Then do what you always do,” Coco gives back with a hint of a laugh. Her voice is rough, hitting low in Velvet’s stomach. 

Her words remind her of all the memories, all the weapons and friends encased in her photographs. It’s how Velvet processes, how she keeps her memories safe from the world, how she encases her life in stills. Safe from everything, she keeps the memories that matter: A picture of team RWBY and JNPR after their food fight, a disgusting and wholesome happiness in a single picture. A picture of Beacon tower before it fell, a picture of innocence she didn’t know she was capturing. A picture of the rest of her own team in front of Shade Academy the first day they arrived. A picture she took on self-timer of herself and Coco the night Velvet confessed. A stranger wouldn’t see anything in it, but she looks at it and hears the pleas of _'I'm not fragile'_ and ‘ _you feel it too?_ ’. 

There are pictures and memories she saves, far from her weapon, untouched and untainted by war. Whether Coco was joking or not, Velvet decides she shouldn’t be.

Velvet untangles her legs from around Coco, pushing herself off the bed. She feels the loss of warmth immediately, hearing Coco’s soft grunt at her leaving soon after. Padding barefoot across the floor to her camera, her face heats at the eyes following her movements- Coco’s shirt sits baggy on her, but there’s enough skin left exposed.

She makes her way back to the bed, back to the warmth and comfort. Pushing her partner down onto her back, Velvet swings a leg over her, her legs coming to rest straddling Coco’s hips. She has to ignore the smirk forming on her face, how it makes her want to abandon the idea entirely.

Getting her camera ready, she looks down at Coco, sure her love is written all over her face, “These will be just for me. Just for us.”

Coco smiles- the crooked, lazy smile that drives Velvet crazy. Her hands come to rest on Velvet’s hips, the warmth and pressure rushing to her head. There’s an ache, a desire, a pressure that’s far too distracting. She forces her eyes closed, ignoring the urge to grind down, to let the camera fall to the side. Instead, she breathes, putting on the confidence Coco loves so much. She gets to be in control now.

Letting the camera hang from the strap around her neck, she reaches for Coco’s hands. She pins them above her head, leaning in close. She watches as Coco’s expression shifts from amusement to surprise to uninhibited attraction- the desire and affection wrapped into one that sits in Velvet’s head, too. 

“Pose for me,” she says, voice lower than she’s ever heard it. She grabs the camera again, her free hand pushing a strand of Coco’s hair out of her face. Her girlfriend obeys, stays still. She opens up for her alone- a testament to how far they’ve come, how Coco lets herself be seen and felt beyond the physical. 

_click_

The golden light pouring through the curtains paints Coco in her deep browns, her soft angles. Her lips part, echoes of a smile still in place. The angle of her head draws her jawline harsh against the soft light. 

_click_

The shot is messy, dark hair splayed over light sheets, light casting shadows on her cheeks. Coco looks like a model, like a sculpture, like a deity. There should be monuments, Velvet thinks, instead of her quiet worship.

She shifts slightly, the friction and the weight bringing a blush to Coco’s face. Velvet’s fingers trace the deep red on her cheeks, tilting her jaw up to get a different angle.

_click_

This picture holds a girl unguarded, a mask shattered. Pink cheeks and a hand still on her jaw, Coco is a vision of all Velvet wants.

“Velv,” Coco whispers, breathless and low. She looks up at her like she made the world, like Velvet was too beautiful for words. Velvet puts a finger to her partner’s lips, a ‘ _shhh’_ glazing over Coco’s attempts at stammering out an affection.

_click_

She captures Coco with fingers still on her lips, half-lidded eyes looking up at her in a way that would make her knees weak if she were standing. Velvet’s lungs burn, heat pooling in her gut and burning through her veins as she stares at her girlfriend. She lets the camera hang again. 

“It’s normally my look, but confidence looks good on you, Velv,” her hands find their place on her hips again, thumbs running circles on the bare skin there. This time, Velvet does let the camera fall on the bed next to them. This time, she does lean down to kiss her girlfriend, pulling her bottom lip between her teeth. She lets herself grind down, lets Coco’s hands wander, lets the warmth pool and ache. The memory’s encapsulated, she’s free to make more. She makes a mental note to put these new pictures with the others.

“I love you,” Coco says, when she pulls back for air, softening the way she only does in her presence. Velvet pants, out of breath, so enamored by the girl under her.

“I’m aware,” Velvet lets the faux cockiness take over. She giggles immediately, unable to keep the act up. Pressing a kiss against her girlfriend’s neck, she echoes an ‘ _I love you too_ ’ against her skin. 

She can keep some memories for herself.

**Author's Note:**

> thank you for reading my first attempt at crosshares! let me know what you think, comments make my day!
> 
> you can find me on twitter @gayxiaolong as well :)


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